JustPut.com Forums - News and Current Eventshttp://www.justput.com/forum/
US and world news and current events that do not fit into other specific forums should be posted here.enTue, 26 Sep 2017 21:55:36 GMTvBulletin60http://www.justput.com/forum/images/misc/rss.pngJustPut.com Forums - News and Current Eventshttp://www.justput.com/forum/
Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drivehttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43035-Saudi-Arabia-Agrees-to-Let-Women-Drive&goto=newpost
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 20:44:54 GMT---Quote---
*Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive
*
Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a...

Quote:

Saudi Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the repression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom.

The change, which will take effect in June of next year, was announced on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington. The decision highlights the damage that the no-driving policy has done to the kingdom’s international reputation and its hopes for a public relations benefit from the reform.

Saudi leaders also hope the new policy will help the economy by increasing women’s participation in the workplace. Many working Saudi women spend much of their salaries on drivers or must be driven to work by male relatives.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is a Muslim monarchy ruled according to Shariah law. Saudi officials and clerics have provided numerous explanations for the ban over the years.

Some said that it was inappropriate in Saudi culture for women to drive, or that male drivers would not know how to handle having women in cars next to them. Others argued that allowing women to drive would lead to promiscuity and the collapse of the Saudi family. One cleric claimed — with no evidence — that driving harmed women’s ovaries.

Rights groups have long campaigned for the ban to be overturned, and some women have been arrested and jailed for defying the prohibition and taking the wheel.

The momentum to change the policy picked up in recent years with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king’s 32-year-old son, who has laid out a far-reaching plan to overhaul the kingdom’s economy and society.

Ending the ban on women driving is expected to face some resistance inside the kingdom, where families are highly patriarchal and some men say they worry about their female relatives getting stranded should their cars break down.

So-called “guardianship” laws give men power over their female relatives. Women cannot travel abroad, work or undergo some medical procedures without the consent of their male “guardian,” often a father, a husband or even a son.

While the enforcement of these laws has loosened in recent years, there is little to stop Saudi men from greatly limiting the movements of their wives or daughters.

The royal decree lifting the no-driving ban left open the question of whether women would need a male relative’s permission to obtain a driver’s license.

Beyond the effects it could have on Saudi Arabia’s image abroad, letting women drive could help the Saudi economy.

Low oil prices have limited the government jobs that many Saudis have long relied on, and the kingdom is trying to push more citizens, including women, into gainful employment. But some working Saudi women say hiring private drivers to get them to and from work eats up much of their pay, diminishing the incentive to work.

In recent years, many women have come to rely on ride-sharing apps like Uber and Careem to gain some freedom of movement.

Many of the kingdom’s professionals and young people will welcome the change, viewing it as a step to making life in the country a bit more like life elsewhere.

Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi women’s rights advocate who filmed herself driving in 2011 and posted the footage to YouTube to protest the law, celebrated the announcement on Tuesday.

Ms. Sharif was instrumental in organizing groups of women for collective protests to demand an end to the ban on female drivers. She was arrested at the time for taking part in the actions, and later wrote a book about her experience. She now lives in Australia.

But despite celebrating the success for female drivers, she said the fight for equality was far from over.

Loujain Hathloul, another Saudi advocate who was arrested for driving in late 2014 and jailed for 73 days, tweeted a simple reaction to the news: “Thank god!”

The royal decree, read by an announcer of state television and signed by King Salman, said traffic laws would be amended, including to allow the government to issue driver’s licenses “to men and women alike.”

The decree said a high-level ministerial committee was being formed to study other issues that needed to be addressed for the change to take place. For example, the police will have to be trained to interact with women in a way that they rarely do in Saudi Arabia, a society where men and women who are not related have little contact.

The committee has 30 days to provide its recommendations, the decree said, so that the new policy can be carried out starting on June 24.

The decree said that the majority of the Council of Senior Scholars — the kingdom’s top clerical body, whose members are appointed by the king — had agreed that the government could allow women to drive if done in accordance with Shariah law.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/w...l?mcubz=0&_r=0
]]>News and Current Eventsskoolyhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43035-Saudi-Arabia-Agrees-to-Let-Women-DriveDear doubters, B.o.B wants to prove the Earth is flat once and for allhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43031-Dear-doubters-B-o-B-wants-to-prove-the-Earth-is-flat-once-and-for-all&goto=newpost
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:22:23 GMT

Quote:

(CNN)Last year, rapper B.o.B. used Twitter to jump on the 'flat Earth' bandwagon, and it looks like he's been riding it ever since.

What a moron.
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43031-Dear-doubters-B-o-B-wants-to-prove-the-Earth-is-flat-once-and-for-allPalestinian gunman kills three Israelis in West Bankhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43030-Palestinian-gunman-kills-three-Israelis-in-West-Bank&goto=newpost
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:10:47 GMT---Quote---
Three Israelis have been shot dead by a Palestinian at the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Har Adar in the occupied West Bank,...

Quote:

Three Israelis have been shot dead by a Palestinian at the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Har Adar in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police say.
The gunman, a 37-year-old from a nearby village, was also shot and died later.

Turkey will invade Kurdistan if the Kurds declare independence from Iraq.
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43029-Iraqi-Kurd-referendum-Erdogan-warns-of-sanctions-hungerNiles North HS hazing allegation under investigation; varsity football suspendedhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43028-Niles-North-HS-hazing-allegation-under-investigation-varsity-football-suspended&goto=newpost
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:03:40 GMT---Quote---
SKOKIE, Ill. (WLS) -- One week after allegations of hazing led to criminal charges against five football players at Wheaton College,...

Quote:

SKOKIE, Ill. (WLS) -- One week after allegations of hazing led to criminal charges against five football players at Wheaton College, officials at Niles North High School received word of hazing allegations and shut down the football program.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Witnesses and police described a chaotic scene as a masked attacker armed with two guns shot seven people, killing one, in a Tennessee church before he was subdued.

http://abc7chicago.com/tennessee-chu...urder/2451834/
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43022-Tennessee-church-shooting-suspect-charged-with-murderhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43018-People-sprayed-with-noxious-substance-near-London-shopping-center&goto=newpost
Sun, 24 Sep 2017 03:57:20 GMThttp://www.cnn.com/2017/09/23/europe/noxious-substance-sprayed-on-people-in-london/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2017/09/23/europe...don/index.html
]]>News and Current EventsBeemerhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43018-People-sprayed-with-noxious-substance-near-London-shopping-centerhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43011-Decapitated-man-Halloween-display-in-Tennessee-sparks-911-calls&goto=newpost
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:23:05 GMT---Quote---
A local US police department has urged people not to call 911 after reports that a man had been crushed by a garage door.
The supposed...

Quote:

A local US police department has urged people not to call 911 after reports that a man had been crushed by a garage door.
The supposed victim in Greene County, Tennessee, turned out to be a scarily realistic, early Halloween decoration.

Epic!
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43011-Decapitated-man-Halloween-display-in-Tennessee-sparks-911-callsPolice shoot and kill Oklahoma City man as neighbors shout that he is deafhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43010-Police-shoot-and-kill-Oklahoma-City-man-as-neighbors-shout-that-he-is-deaf&goto=newpost
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 14:03:27 GMT

Quote:

An Oklahoma City man was fatally shot by police as neighbors shouted that the man was deaf and could not hear officers' commands to drop a metal pipe he was holding, police said.

He can see. Why didn't he at least raise his hands when cops pointed a Taser and a gun at him. Even if the pipe were tied to his wrist, at least then the cops would see that it was. He could then point to his ears to indicate that he couldn't hear them.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Friday unveiled its latest ballistic missile capable of reaching much of the Middle East, including Israel, while the country's president vowed that Tehran would press ahead with its missile program in defiance of U.S. demands to the contrary.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...09-22-06-12-21
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43006-In-defiance-to-US-Iran-unveils-latest-missile-during-paradeUber is STRIPPED of its London licence over passenger safety fearshttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43004-Uber-is-STRIPPED-of-its-London-licence-over-passenger-safety-fears&goto=newpost
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:10:47 GMT---Quote---
Transport for London announced this morning that the company will not be given another private hire operator licence after its current...

Quote:

Transport for London announced this morning that the company will not be given another private hire operator licence after its current one expires on September 30.

It's snowing in the Sierra. Then again, when isn’t it snowing in the Sierra?

Mammoth Lakes got more than a dusting Thursday in the first snowfall of the season, with three inches reported in the village. Snow coated the roads so heavily that the plows were out, and locals left footprints on sidewalks.

Meanwhile, it has been in the low to mid 90s here this week. We're having August weather in late September.
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43003-Mammoth-s-first-snow-of-the-season-coats-roads-and-village-Tahoe-hit-early-toohttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43002-War-of-words-with-North-Korea-escalates-with-Trump-calling-Kim-a-madman&goto=newpost
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:08:26 GMT

Quote:

"The mentally deranged behavior of the U.S. president openly expressing on the UN arena the unethical will to 'totally destroy' a sovereign state, beyond the boundary of threats of regime change or overturn of social system, makes even those with normal thinking faculty think about discretion and composure," Kim said in a statement circulated by state news agency KCNA.

]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43002-War-of-words-with-North-Korea-escalates-with-Trump-calling-Kim-a-madmanScientists say recent quake swarm at Rainier is not unusualhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43001-Scientists-say-recent-quake-swarm-at-Rainier-is-not-unusual&goto=newpost
Thu, 21 Sep 2017 15:34:34 GMT---Quote---
Nearly two dozen small earthquakes have rattled Mount Rainier over the past week, but seismologists say there’s no cause for worry....

Quote:

Nearly two dozen small earthquakes have rattled Mount Rainier over the past week, but seismologists say there’s no cause for worry.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-...s-not-unusual/
]]>News and Current EventsJust Jonhttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43001-Scientists-say-recent-quake-swarm-at-Rainier-is-not-unusualSEC reveals it was hacked, information may have been used for illegal stock tradeshttp://www.justput.com/forum/showthread.php?43000-SEC-reveals-it-was-hacked-information-may-have-been-used-for-illegal-stock-trades&goto=newpost
Thu, 21 Sep 2017 13:11:05 GMT---Quote---
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s top Wall Street regulator, announced Wednesday that hackers breached its system...

Quote:

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s top Wall Street regulator, announced Wednesday that hackers breached its system for storing documents filed by publicly traded companies last year, potentially accessing data that allowed the intruders to make an illegal profit.